First Tee: Seton Hall's Hannah Basalone traveled east to jump-start golf team

Seton Hall AthleticsSeton Hall women's golfer Hannah Basalone, who made it to the Round of 32 in the U.S. Womenâs Amateur Public Links championship at Neshanic Valley Golf Course in Somerset County.

To this day, Sara Doell doesn’t know how she got so lucky.

Here she was in the spring of 2010, newly-hired to coach the just-created women’s golf team at Seton Hall, looking for anybody who would want to come play for her.

Doell took recommendations and hunches at the same time, grouped them together and hoped it would work itself out on the golf course. One of those was a girl from California, who came all the way east because the only college that really pursued her in high school was New York University.

Two years later, Hannah Basalone might just be the best thing to happen to Seton Hall women’s golf.

“I had no idea how good Hannah was going to be,” Doell admitted. “She came onto the scene in the very first tournament of our existence and finished top 10 at Bucknell.”

Since then, it’s been nothing but high achievement for the junior-to-be.

She was named to the All-Big East women’s golf team this past year and became the first golfer in the program’s two-year history to win an individual tournament. Then she was named a tri-recipient of the school’s sophomore female athlete of the year. And last week, she made it into the round of 32 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links championship at Neshanic Valley G.C. in Somerset County.

And everyone around her feels that she’s only getting started.

“I had no idea that everything would be going so great,” Basalone said. “That I would be doing as well as I am. That our team would be doing as well as we are. I didn’t really have too many expectations at all coming here, but everything has exceeded it by far. I’ve done so much better — we’ve done so much as a team — it’s been a really great experience, I think.”

Competing on a national stage against players around the country, Basalone viewed her week at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links as a growing experience. It was a challenge for her to try and test her game against some of the premier amateur players in the country. Now that she saw how far she got — and how far she still has to go in that arena — Basalone now has something to shoot for.

“I think that this week helped me realize that I can compete with these girls,” Basalone said. “That I can be even better — and beat them, at some point too. It was definitely a confidence booster, I think.”

That there’s a need for a shot of confidence, might be the only kink in Basalone’s game.
Doell said that as good as Basalone is on the golf course, she would like for her to get some aggressiveness, some cockiness in her game. Not at the expense of her quiet, sturdy leadership of course, but get that extra gear that turns good golfers into great ones.

“I don’t think she completely understands how good she is,” Doell said. “She has to believe how good she is. I’ve talked to her about that — having a little bit more fire in her.”

Basalone laughs at that. She knows she can be a bit timid at times, letting her game do all of the talking. But the confidence to be assertive will come in time. Who knows? After this past week at Neshanic Valley, it might be finally bubbling to the surface. Which could turn the diamond-in-the-rough from Brea, Calif., from a nice building block for the Seton Hall women’s golf team into something much more.

At the NJ PGA Pro-Am at Essex County C.C. in West Orange last Thursday, Frank Esposito Jr. of Brooklake C.C. took home the win. Esposito edged out Michael Farrell of Metedeconk National G.C. by a stroke, with a final score of 70. Brandon Gelo of Essex Fells C.C. finished third. … Eleven PGA professionals from New Jersey began competition in the 45th PGA Professional National Championship yesterday in Seaside, Calif. Among them are Rumson’s Brian Gaffney and Suburban’s Mark McCormick, who just competed in the U.S. Open; Bill Britton (Trump National-Colts Neck), Mike Burke (Montammy), Chris Dachisen (North Jersey), Matt Freitag (Hamilton Farm), Damien Hamlett (New Jersey National), Sam Kang (Farmstead), Michael LaBrutto (Greenacres), Ed Whitman (Knickerbocker) and Esposito. … At the last Thursday’s qualifier for the NJSGA Open next month, amateur Alex Hicks of Stone Harbor G.C. took home medalist honors over Pete Busch of Galloping Hill by one shot. A total of 27 other golfers qualified for the Open, to be held July 10 to 12 at Manasquan River Golf Club in Brielle.